The Truman Show - "Cue the Son" The powers that be "Christoff"
would, daily, cue the sun to rise up over the constructed town and peoples.
When Truman becomes more and more awake to what is happening, the others
around him seek to protect their way of "life". They do a wide variety of
things to keep Truman from discovering the "real world". In Advent, we are
called to be alert and awake to the coming of the Son, to be alert to the
real world and all that is occuring so that we can live lives "worthy of our
callings." (idea came from 98 Homiletics issue)
(submitted by Christ the Redeemer Church)

Two Italian brothers who own a good but
struggling restaurant are supposedly helped by the owner of the hopping
Italian restaurant in town. His help is that he is going to send Louis
Prima and his entourage to this struggling restaurant. The formal publicity
and "the buzz" created by Prima's presence will be the spark needed to get
the restaurant going. The film becomes about all the preparation, excitement
and anticipation of this visit. They plan a huge party for him, but he
never arrives. The successful restate fabricated the whole story. Yet in
the midst of disappointment, they rejoice and understand that in the
preparation, excitement and anticipation, they created wonderful night.
I think of this story as I consider Luke 10 and the 70 who proclaimed
the Gospel without immediate results. (Alfred Bakewell)

Statement made asked of Captain Picard: "Time is
the fire in which we burn" Picard's
response later in the movie to his first officer: "Will,
someone said to me that time is the fire in which we burn. I believe it
is more like a companion on the journey. Mortality is one of the marks
of our existence. It defines who we are." Since Advent considers
time and the end of it, this movie helps one consider how it is being
spent. (submitted by The Rev. Mark A. Thompson, Minneapolis, MN)